CommBank Matildas head coach Tony Gustavsson lavished Sharn Freier in praise after the Brisbane Roar attacker scored her first international goal.
The CommBank Matildas prepared for the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris with a 2-1 loss to reigning Gold Medallists Canada in their ‘B’ international fixture on Sunday (AEST).
Roar star Freier was a late replacement for Caitlin Foord in the starting XI – her first start at international level, and the 22-year-old capped it off with a goal in the 24th minute.
As this was a ‘B’ international, it does not count towards any official statistics – including caps and goals. However, Freier’s performance still stood out.
“I also think Sharn Freier maybe had a little bit of her breakthrough game for the Matildas,” Gustavsson told reporters, with Australia due to face Germany on July 25.
“Not just the goal but the way she plays as well and how brave and confident she was, everything from pressing to tackles to taking on 1v1.
“You can even hear the teammates and even the teammates in the stand cheer for her and how much joy and happiness there was for her performance.”
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Freier scored three goals in 22 matches for Brisbane last season.
She scooped four honours at the Roar’s end-of-season awards night – Young Player of the Year, Players’ Player of the Year, Player of the Year and Fans’ Player of the Year.
“It felt really excited. Mary (Fowler) put her head up and I looked to come in to combine. I took the opportunity, it went in so I was super proud,” Freier told Matildas.com.au.
On the match itself, Gustavsson – who was without Steph Catley and Kaitlyn Torpey – said: “We wanted to prepare to play on heavy legs where it’s difficult to focus, you might not have the power in the runs.
“We’re always an aggressive team that play with high octane and energy but in an Olympic tournament when there’s such a tight turnaround with games you know you’re going to have to play with fatigue at times, and to learn how to play with fatigue was also part of this game.
“And then finally when it comes to evaluating performance, it’s also evaluating players. We wanted to test a lot of players today and give them minutes because we’re going to need them all come Olympics.”
